NEW YORK, NY -- (Marketwire) -- 02/07/13 -- Twitter has long been known for its many technical innovations, but grade-A search functionality has never been one of them. That might be changing soon, as the popular social network has announced some significant changes to its internal search functions -- changes designed to increase user engagement and ultimately to encourage more people to connect with one another through their tweets. The changes to Twitter's search functions have won the attention of numerous social media professionals -- including Richard Gorman.

Gorman is a direct response marketing pioneer, but also a vocal social media enthusiast. He has released a new statement to the press, in which he praises the changes Twitter has made. "Great social networks and great search features have not historically gone hand in hand," he notes. "With that said, social networks are beginning to realize that they need to make it easy for users to locate specific information if they want those users to really engage, invest, and connect. Thus, we have recently seen Facebook Graph Search, and now these small yet significant tweaks to the Twitter search tool."

Twitter announced the upgrades to its search tool in early February; the changes will affect Twitter users on all mobile devices, including not only iOS and Android but also mobile Web users. The company has said that the purpose of the upgrades is to enable users to find other users, tweets, and trends, all within a single stream. Essentially, the new mobile search features bring the on-the-go version of Twitter into alignment with the main Twitter website.

According to Gorman, one of the most significant new features is the ability to search from anywhere in the app. "Twitter used to require you to click over to the 'Discover' tab to search, but now the search bar is ubiquitous," he affirms. "Twitter obviously wants its users to search the network more frequently, and they have made it very easy to do just that."

Even so, the "Discover" part of the Twitter experience remains an area of focus. "Twitter has said in the past that you do not have to tweet in order to use Twitter, and while that may be an overstatement, this new redesign goes a long way toward enabling users to use Twitter simply as a platform for discovering content and making connections," opines Gorman. He specifically points to the fact that Twitter activity, trending topics, and suggested accounts all appear within the same stream, simply by default.

The new Twitter search results page mirrors the more integrative approach taken by the "Discover" tab. Now, users who search for a given term will see tweets, accounts, and photos, all intermingled in the same stream. Twitter says the search function is more effective than ever at locating the most relevant results for a user's query.

The long-term goal for Twitter is for its technology to learn the behavior of its users, and to adapt in kind. For example, if a user frequently clicks to expand tweets from a particular Twitter account, a future version of Twitter will seek to display these expanded tweets automatically.

According to Gorman, the revised Twitter search function is a step in the right direction. "This is a floor, not a ceiling, and there is still plenty of room for improvement -- but with that said, this is absolutely progress," he explains. "The only way Twitter can learn user behavior is for users to really engage with Twitter in a more immersive way, which is exactly what these new changes are trying to encourage."

A long-time proponent of social networking, Richard Gorman can be found on Twitter at the handle @richgorman101.

ABOUT:

Richard Gorman is a trailblazer in the online marketing industry, known for his pioneering work in direct response -- work that is on vivid display at his own Direct Response marketing blog. At the blog, Gorman gives away countless thousands of dollars in trade secrets and insider information. Additionally, he is a technology pundit and a social media enthusiast. Gorman frequently opines and makes predictions on matters related to social networking, search engines, online commerce, and more.

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